Karson Elmgren is a technology and security policy fellow at RAND. Previously, he was a research analyst at the Center for Security and Emerging Technology on the AI Assessment team. His experience in the field of security also includes researching U.S.-China relations and East Asian affairs at the Asia Society Policy Institute, leading monitoring of Russian-language open source information with the Truman National Security Project in the early days of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and contributing to research that publicly demonstrated PLA purchases of U.S. AI chips as a research assistant at the Center for Security and Emerging Technology where he later returned full-time. Prior to attending Georgetown, Elmgren worked in people operations at OpenAI and managed cross-border financial research operations at Gerson Lehrman Group, among other things. He holds dual Bachelor's degrees in Chinese language and literature and Russian, Eastern European and Eurasian studies from the University of Texas at Austin. He has a Master's degree in security studies from Georgetown University
Education
B.A. in Chinese Language and Literature, The University of Texas at Austin; M.A. in security studies, Georgetown University; B.A. in Russian, Eastern European and Eurasian Studies, The University of Texas at Austin